Inspection and self assessment support

As consultants we use our expertise to assist local authorities in their preparations for inspection and in their improvement planning to implement recommendations made by the Audit Commission.

Increasingly, as inspection has become more proportional and risk based we are being asked to help with self assessments including IDeA peer reviews. Examples of our work are:

• A year-long project to support and prepare Oxford council for a Culture inspection, where they achieved a good result
• Support to the London Borough of Waltham Forest for their Culture inspection
• Challenge and self assessment coaching for Housing, Environmental Services and Supporting People inspections in another London borough
• Post inspection support to the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham following their Culture inspection and working with the cross council group charged with making sure the Audit Commission recommendations were implemented quickly and effectively

For other councils we have prepared them for corporate inspection, such as Walsall and for Barking and Dagenham, where we produced the self assessment for their preliminary IDeA peer review and acted as critical friend for their corporate inspection.

In Lambeth we worked with staff who were gathering evidence for the Community Safety services inspection as they were a pilot for the new cross cutting inspection methodology for the Audit Commission. This involved advising and assisting lead officers to prepare their self assessment, challenging evidence against the new criteria and facilitating a workshop to enable staff to understand the inspection process.